Friday, February 19, 2010

Bike Commute to work costs $39.99

Horray! i finally did it.After almost 3 months of being injured I finaly bit the bullet and rode to work on Tues of this week.

My hip injury has been feeling a little bit better and the surrounding muscles have not been feeling too bad. There has been a constant "ache" in my hip for the last 3 months tho. I took it easy on the ride and didn't push too hard, didn't try to race the cars and put the bike in a granny gear to slowly climb the small hills on my route..I got to work just fine. I did almost see an accident about 2.5km into my ride...here is my version. (see above Photo for reference)

I pulled up to the intersection of Sandford and Cheapside (behind Fanshawe College)The light was red and i pulled up to the back of a SUV that was turning left. The light changed to green and the SUV pulled into the intersection. The traffic comming in the opposite direction was neverending and the light went back to red with the SUV (and me behind it) in the middle of the intersection. The SUV started to make the turn and get out of the intersection..A car that was at the front of the line in the opposite direction decided to not notice the red light and felt it was also a good time to turn right. This car did not stop at the red at all, just turned right without looking. The SUV blared on the horn and the pilot of the car looked to her left and seemed shocked that there was a SUV approx 1 foot from T-boning her drivers door... The SUV stopped, The car stopped, and i pulled up to the passenger side of the SUV (to get out of the MIDDLE of the intersection) The car driver did not know what to do. She put the car into reverse and started to back up!!! The lane she was trying to back up into was full right to the front of the intersection so the car at the front of the line started to Honk (or get backed into) at this point the car driver stopped backing up and threw up her hands, she was still blocking the SUV from continuing into the eastbound lane of cheapside. No one could go anywhere, i was now standing beside the SUV with nowhere to go either.. I yelled at the car driver to just GO! and pointed the direction that she should go. She reluctantly put the car in drive and proceeded along her way.. The SUV and i also finished making our left turns and everything was fine after that... I said to my self "welcome to the land of idiots" and got back into my riding groove. i guess Technically i should not have tried to turn left after the light was red but I feel in no way was this incident the result of a bike being on the road, I would have followed the SUV regardless of being on my bike or in my car. The oncoming car should have stopped at the red and then made her turn when it was clear to do so..All was well until i got to work.I got to work in approx 35 min (my record in the summer is 19min) Rode over to my bike box (picture is from the summer Duh!)and saw that it was basically under a snowbank. My glasses started to fog up from just standing around trying to figure out how i was going to get into it. i took them off and put them on top of the snow on top of the bike box. After some foot shoveling and extra force i was able to get the door open enough to get my bike in. I quickly gathered my stuff and rushed off the the showers..I forgot to pick up my sunglasses!!! I didnt notice until I started to get my bike out of the box for the ride home. I looked up to the spot I left my glasses and noticed footprints in the snow leading up to that spot and leaving in the opposite direction. NO GLASSES!! Grrrr i was very upset with myself for forgeting to bring them inside with me.. I proceeded to ride home with no glasses while verbally abusing myself for this stupid mistake. I bought these glasses at the Toronto Bike show last March for 60% off. $39.99 was now what i would hope to pay again at this years Bike show March 6th. Grrr i am still upset about this and had my mind set to buy somthing new for my bike this year instead of buying the same thing i got last year...On a Good note the ache in my hip has gone away from my hip and moved itself into my head. I could not ride on Thurs. as i had planned, due to me being home in bed wishing my head didnt hurt so much..

My plan is to ride my bike on Monday , Wed, and Fri. of next week. Hopefully all will go well, i will make due with my UWO issued saftey glasses untill I can get some replacements..

Rantwick.I pay for the bike box, $10/month. I paid for 3 months starting in Sept but I have not received notice that they want the key back, more payment, or that they even remember that I am using it. I think there are approx 20 of these on Campus and I have never seen anyone else using one so i'm hoping to fly under the radar for a while. That reminds me...I need to bring a shovel and dig it out before my next ride.